Robyn Lawley, size 12, will appear in Sports Illustrated in a bikini from her own line.
Ok so they have “technically” included some body diversity… Not hating but she is not that much “Larger” than a standard model, however I will give them kudos (with a side eye). But check this, here is what Lawley had to say about her body, her image:
“I don’t know if I consider myself as a plus-size model or not, I just consider myself a model because I’m trying to help women in general accept their bodies. ”
So Sports Illustrated is including a plus sized woman in their swimsuit issue.I know that all the “normal women” (like the ones with two arms and two legs) are supposed to be jumping up and down as our various parts giggle upon landing, grateful to be included in this annual homage to the sexualization of the female body, no matter how sleight that form might be, but I have a bone to pick (it could be a jutting hipbone, or protruding rib). Not to burst the “Congratulations” balloons or anything, but curvy model Ashely Graham is not a SI model, she is the model for the swimsuitsforall campaign, #CurvesinBikinis. She is featured in an advertisement not the editorial spread. There is a big difference- like the difference between my thigh and Candace Swanpole’s. I find the idea that media outlets are promoting the appearance of a full figured woman on a “advertisement” as a part of the actual swimsuit editorial is just false. It is a LIE, she is not included along side the likes of Benhati Prinsloo, Chrissy Teigen, Heidi Klum, Adirana Lima. She will be along side the likes of deodorant, car and aftershave ads. To promote this “move” as Sports Illustrated taking a forward step to righting the warped image of the female form in the media,by making their swim suit issue inclusive on some level is untrue. What it means is that some genius in the the #CurvesinBikinis marketing department realized that they could capitalized on the lack of, nay the absence body diversity in the legendary issue and thought “. This is a perfect opportunity for us to get ALOT of coverage, because it has NEVER been done!”
It’s important that I stress that I don’t mean to take anything away from Ashley Graham or the swimsuitsforall campaign, I think that they are both amazing and are part of the healing that needs to happen for women, and our images in the media, what I am trying to point out is that this “Bold” and “Daring” act of putting a woman who has meat on her bones in the swimsuit issue is not, and did not come from Sports Illustrated, nor is she IN the editorial. So the real question is, do you think that Sports illustrated is making a bold move by accepting money to run an ad featuring a plus size woman? To me it is akin to Monster Truck magazine running an ad for a Prius. #cashruleseverythingaroundme.
I am so sick and tired of the misappropriation, co-opting and the contradictory circular conversation that has become the “Body Image” dialogue. I am tired of the faddish jargon that surrounds it that starts to become like white noise, conflating the real issues and deadening the nerve endings of the problem. I feel like the body image crisis has now been in circulation long enough for its commodification. Ladies, our desire for healing is being sold back to us by the people who infected us in the first place.
It happens to the best of issues. Think about what happened with bullying. Here we have children being physically and cyber bullied to the degree that some have felt the only way out was suicide, and it becomes a hot topic as it should, it’s a very real and serious problem that national news outlets and media should pick up and run with. Flash forward to grown ass, drunk ass women on reality series pulling out the “I was systematically bullied” card. Suddenly it becomes the go to declaration when some is confronting you and you don’t like it. News flash, Truth telling is not bullying…These reality stars, as a grown woman (most of whom are mothers) all had the power to: use their words, walk away from situations, they could in fact not instigate situations that turn against them, and then call the aftermath bullying. I guess what I am saying is that they could act like adults, or at least take the advice they would give their children instead of reducing themselves to finger pointing adolescences while throwing around incendiary terms for entertainment. The result is that is dilutes the issue and the seriousness of bullying when it is real.
Over the last year I feel like the body image subject has built a bandwagon with all sorts of people who may or may not struggle with it, or even give a real damn hopping on. In September 2012 when Lady Gaga got blasted for gaining weight she started the Born This Way Foundation that in it’s own words “Is committed to supporting the wellness of young people, and empowering them to create a kinder and braver world. We achieve this by shining a light on real people, quality research and authentic partnerships.” Um I just went to the site and it’s still under construction. I suppose that’s because she lost the weigh got praised for it was past the issue,… Daily, celebrities use hot topic issues to deflect or direct attention, and this simply dilutes the cause. Then I have problems with the new terms coined that are bandied about when convenient, like the term “Fat Shaming”. I have such conflicted feelings about this term, not because it doesn’t exist, but mainly because I think that it is often subject to overuse and abuse. When is something just a comment? and when is it “shaming”?.
There are instances when a comment could have been blown of and chalked up to a person’s simple ignorance, but instead it gets is blown up and labeled as “Fat Shaming” which at times I feel results in a form of reverse shaming, and shunning “You shouldn’t use words like that! Shame on you!” I just see that spoiled manipulative kid hiding behind the leg of an adult sniggering as they watch another child get in trouble. I’m not saying that “fat shaming” does not happen, however I do think there is a difference from calling someone fat, or saying that they gained weight, and making them feel less than about it. I know you can’t believe I wrote that, but I see it like this: you can call me black, that is fine, I am, now if you are trying to make me feel less then because I’m black, well that is another matter. you might think that this is splitting hairs, but I feel like becoming hypersensitive does not promote healing, strength and self empowerment.
We have a long way to go and lately I feel like the road is congested with folks who are not so much interested in getting to the destination as they are with enjoying the ride and site seeing. Personally I moving over into the passing lane and I’m gunning it. I’ll see you when you get there.
Tina Fay hit the nail on the head three years ago when she addressed the ass phenomenon in her her book Bossypants. She certainly called it for what it was, before it was what it became…
“I think the first real change in women’s body image came when JLo turned it butt-style. That was the first time that having a large-scale situation in the back was part of mainstream American beauty. Girls wanted butts now. Men were free to admit that they had always enjoyed them. And then, what felt like moments later, boom—Beyoncé brought the leg meat. A back porch and thick muscular legs were now widely admired. And from that day forward, women embraced their diversity and realized that all shapes and sizes are beautiful.
Ah ha ha. No. I’m totally messing with you. All Beyoncé and JLo have done is add to the laundry list of attributes women must have to qualify as beautiful. Now every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll tits. The person closest to actually achieving this look is Kim Kardashian, who, as we know, was made by Russian scientists to sabotage our athletes.”
I am a huge fan of Marion Colltiard, her performance in La Vie en Rose was amazing, she is truly a talent and a great beauty. It is no wonder that Christian Dior tapped her to be a spokesperson for their brand. As is their way, they have produced an extended commercial/movie starring Colltiard the concept of which is a take of from Inception. She can walk, skip, glide and slide on water. She also dances with an invisible partner. the routine harkens one back to an Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction, or a too cool for school downtown dance routine, either way I found it charming and elegant in a quirky sort of Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face Kind of way.
Check it out here:
Wendy Whelan is the First Lady of the New York City Ballet. She has been a principal dancer with the company for 23 years. With a repertoire of more than 50 ballets under her belt, (including pieces by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Twyla Tharp, William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon) there is little she has not done, or for that matter that she could not do. The thing that I appreciate about most Wendy is her artistry and the physical intelligence that is clear in her dancing.
Where she is amazingly technically consistent in her performance it is her musicality and her artistic choices that keep me mezmorized. I marvel at the way the depth of her subtext translates with such ease and subtlety through her body infusing the steps with weight and meaning no matter what ballet she is doing. Now in her 28th year at NYCB and at 45 years old she keeps getting better and better.
The other thing that fascinates me about Wendy is the fact that of all the ballet stars, it seems that her body (it’s size in particular) is spoken about almost as much as her dancing. She is thin, thin and muscular, and everyone from critics, to audience members have a feeling about it. Her’s is often the the body used as an example at both polarities of the body discussion in the world of ballet – some say she is ideal, others that she is way too thin. Well I was wondering how SHE felt about her body, and the fact that at times it is the source of such controversy. I also wanted to find out what her body maintenance regimen was and if it has changed as she matures. Mainly I wanted to get inside her head and find out exactly how she creates those incredible performances.
Previously I had only met her once, we shared a table at an Armitage Gone! Dance Gala. We spoke a bit, but you know how those things are. That night I found her very approachable (for a legend in her own time) there was no pretense, no air about her at all, she was there to enjoy the performance and party just like everyone else. When I reached out to her about the interview I was surprised that she responded so quickly and was willing to do it. We shot in her lovely apartment where I met Charlie Rose, her not so camera shy cat, and with a husband as a photographer she was totally into rearranging her living room to get the shot.
(Charlie Rose)
One of the reasons I love doing the extended video interviews is because I think you can really get a feel of the person, their personality, their sense of humor-of… them, in their own words. You will see (as I did as we chatted) that Wendy loves…she is dance, art, movement, she is physically expressive with her hands and arms, she is has an internal train of thought that seems to seek exit either verbally, or with subtle epaulment, as she talks she tends to turn of her head or shoulders, she illustrates with touch and gestures. As she speaks to you she is so present in the moment, so intent on seeking, investigating and sensating that she at times happens upon things- a thought a feeling a memory…
And because she is so authentic, because she is so organically curious and courageous she goes for it, she pushes towards and through it–that thought, that feeling, that memory, which is just what happened during our interview when we were discussing her ordeal of being treated for Scoliosis when she was 12. She happened upon a suppressed memory of a time when she had issues with an eating disorder. Though she rarely talks about this painful (physically and emotionally) time in her development she willingly took herself back there to tell her body story. I was taken aback at how she, like Alice, slipped down that rabbit hole into that emotional place and investigated it, with me there, she did not back away from the re-discovery. I was honored and awed, and in those very tender, personal moments I learned how and why is, what she is. she may be a tiny little thing, but she is not fragile, the mettle of her person is astounding. When I went to the interview I was fan of her dancing, and now I am a fan of her as a woman. She is really an authentically, a wonderful woman, please watch these clips she has so much valuable information that she shares!!! Enjoy!
I am certain by that by now most of us have seen the viral catcall video the iHollaBack organization released to illustrate what women endure when traversing city streets on a daily basis. iHollaback.org (in case you are unfamiliar) is an organization committed to bringing awareness to, and ending the street harassment of women and LGBT individuals, which is both an important and underrepresented issue. Kudos to them, personally I am grateful. Where I can appreciate ihollerback.org’s work, I think it is clear (at least it is now) that this particular video is a marketing strategy less a true documentation of what happened to this woman on a single day. Seriously it is safe to say, that no matter how fine you are, 100 catcalls in 10 hours is excessive even for the “hottest” of women. Clearly there has to be an element of “production” and planting going on in this demonstration. Let’s say that ihollerback.org was intending this to be example of what happens to women daily, often multiple times daily, and give viewers the sense of harassment that women can feel when being cat called. Obviously it was effective, we are talking about it.
Now having gotten the desired effect and the attention, iHollaback is coming under scrutiny for the perceived “racial profiling” of their cat callers 9be they real, planted, or edited) because the offenders are primarily African American or Latino. Now the Brothers and the Cholos do have a very specific style when it comes to letting a female know that she’s “got it going on” however walk past a construction site (we all know it’s hard to find a person of color at one of those) and you will get some Caucasian hard hatters giving you the time of day in their* very special way. Here I have to agree with some of the critics, the video opens itself up to scrutiny in its lack of diversity, and the excessive amount of catcalls this one* woman gets in a 10 hour period (really who could even walk around for ten hours straight). iHollaback might have faired better had they done a compilation that took place over a period of time, using a diverse group women to illustrate their point with more believably. It would have been more realistic, and might have cut naysayers off before they got started. In situations like this sort of aggrandizement can work against you in terms of creating validity for your cause.
I, like countless other women have been the recipient, dare I say the victim of unwanted catcalls and comments whilst walking down the street. As a woman, if you walk anywhere (down a street, through a mall etc.) catcalling is a basic and almost guarenteed reality. Personally this reality has informed the way that I move through the world. There is not a day that goes by, that while getting dressed I do not consider the potential ogling or the verbal comments that an outfit might draw (especially in warmer weather). The contemplation of one’s daily outfits can go deeper than merely wanting to be “on trend” often it has a great deal to do with staying out of the firing line of unwanted male attention. Walking the streets can be akin to walking the gauntlet, which is a sad and horrifying truth when all you really want to do is look nice. We all know the facts, and are aware of the studies, it has been proven that if women dress for anyone other than themselves, they dress for the approval of other women, not men. Women want to t want to feel good in their bodies, and in their clothes. When most women they are not actively trying to solicit comments from random, anonymous men on the street. Let’s be clear, when women go out on the town, that’s a different story all together.
My personal desire to be not be acknowledged by the peanut gallery in the streets has resulted in the creation of very clear rules of dressing:
I will not wear shorts that are too short
I do not wear shorts or skirts that are too tight
I will not expose my legs and midriff at the same time.
I do not wear anything tight around my buttocks and hips, unless I have a flowing cover up over it
Camouflage is my friend, not the print necessarily but in the way of fabric that can conceal or shield my figure (that for the most part I work hard to keep) from onlookers. You would think that with the money and time that I spend on keeping my body tight and right I would want to show it off. Well, in a way I do, however not at the expense of being verbally accosted on the way to work as I am traversing the streets of New York City, or during the too close for comfort subterranean travel in the Metro.
This brings us back to the idea of women dressing for themselves, women also take care their bodies for themselves as well. We like to look in the mirror and think that we look good or sexy. We like to, we need to be, and feel attractive to ourselves before we can ever hope to be attractive to someone else. If men find us attractive as a by-product that is a bonus. Sure we want to attract men, and yes we want men to acknowledge us, of course, but in a why that is honors who we are, not makes us a piece of meat they are deciding how to carve up. There are those who would argue that we [women] can’t have it both ways, we can’t have our cake and keep our waistlines too, however I would counter that the actual “attraction” of men is not the issue, that is a good thing, it’s the way some men choose to express that attraction that can be problematic. Making lewd, sexually explicit comments to a stranger on the street is not a socially acceptable response to a person’s attraction to another. It will almost assuredly cause the object of you desire to quicken her pace away from you.
It would be nice if as a woman I could dress however I wanted and walk with impunity through the streets unmolested, but since I know I can’t I follow my rules. They make me feel safe, this is the only thing in the equation that at can control. I am not a fan of provocative dress, but I am an advocate of a woman having a right dress the way she wants. That having been stated, there is a harsh reality at play, and the stakes are high and the penalties can be severe. Mothers and aunties of young girls warn them against presenting themselves a certain way as they might “attract attention that you don’t know what to do with”. We teach young girls who are starting to develop their womanly figures and look more mature than their ages, not to “flaunt” their new assets because men, GROWN men might not be able to control themselves in their words and actions towards them, not as a child, not as women, not as a human being deserving equal respect.
We teach the young girls that their femininity will not be respected and honored, it might actually endanger them, so they should cover it up. We teach them that they must learn to be adroit in the deflection a man’s unwanted advances or comments, preferably without bruising his ego for fear hat he might lash out. We teach the GIRLS that they somehow have to mute their budding womanliness to keep themselves safe from men who have no self control. At a time when they should be learning to empower themselves as women, to be bold and brash and live out loud…we teach them to fear, and reduce themselves, in the name of survival, and sadly enough we as their elders, and protectors are right do so. At times these catcalls, if gone unacknowledged by the woman can escalate in to verbal and sometimes physical assaults. A woman must walk a fine line at times, choosing her battles, using her instincts as to who she can safely “holllerback” at. Mothers, and aunties, and sisters and godparents teach the young girls in their charge this valuable lesson….What are the Fathers and Uncles and Brothers teaching the young boys?
This is the key to the issue. Women can holler back but until men stop catcalling we will just be making noise, we will always have to be on the defensive. It places the onus on the women, dare I say the victim in this scenario, not the perpetrator. Men must take responsibility for their actions by respecting women, their bodies and their right to be in a space and feel safe. They must teach young boys that women should not be not put upon in this disrespectful manner. The answer is not simply to holler back, although it is important that girls and women know that they have a voice, which gives them a choice and that should be exercised. As a tall strong woman most of the time I feel safe deflecting cat callers, there are times when I have even engaged them. Most times these men wait until you pass, then talk to your ass, they never look you in the face and comment, it’s cowardly behavior. If it is a young boy/man I will often stop, double back and do some “reeducation” my lesson plan is as follows:
“Hey, you saw me a half a block away, you walked right past me and didn’t speak. Why did you wait until I passed to speak? My ass doesn’t talk, my face does.”
Most of the times they mumble their apologies. I give them a stern and grandmotherly look and finally say, “ Now, Good Morning” and walk on.
There have been times when I have been so perturbed that I have FULLY engaged them in conversation about their actions to which some will reply that they were just acknowledging that I looked nice, to which I will let them that “I am a lady and I would appreciate being addressed as one, and I will respond to you as a gentleman” but these are interactions with men whom my gut tells me are not crazy. Crazy men you keep your head down, or earphones in and keep walking.
I don’t know what the solution is short of creating a society where men respect and honor women, and that begins in the home, and elders leading by example but until then… I guess we all have to just Hollaback.
This interview is high-larious!!! The guy is just clueless but so gets schooled!!
StylelikeU.com has created a wonderfully revealing series entitled The What’s Underneath Projectwhere while sitting on a stool in front of a camera, women share their stories. Stories of what it feels like to be them, to be in their bodies, their quirks, irks. They share their relationship the their bodies in the world surrounding them. There are some very authentic and touching stories, some poignant moments where they share their frustrations of not being ideal, and the constant struggle to reach that unobtainable ideal. But here is the twist, as they share, they take items of clothing off eventually they are left in their skivvies… Now physically as well as emotionally exposed.
I came across Jacky O’Shaughnessy’s interview on Facebook and became intrigued first by Jacky (the 62 year old American Apparel model) who shares both her heart breaking story of dating a younger man for 6 years while in LA, and the evening he told her that she was too old to be seen with in public, and how she was discovered by a woman at American Apparel. In O’Shaughnessy’s story we can easily see ourselves, when she talks about that decision to stop dying her hair!!! when she says “I’m done!” I get it, I get her, she is me she might well be you too. Her surrender is palpable, it is admirable. She is the woman we all hope we can grow up to be, even as she informs us that she just got there ! Which, makes us love her more!
check out her interview
As I perused the stylelikeuyoutube station and watched more, I found that I had to agree with some of the comments on the pages that took note of the fact that the majority of the participants are thin, and very attractive, and white. There are a few minorities that I found, also a transgendered woman and a full figured one as well, but I have to agree that the ratio was off. Where I have to give them kudos for the sentiment of the project, not having more cultural and physical diversity might well move against task. It could be read as once again ,only people who are closer to the commercial ideal should be seen naked, or are asked to take their clothes off. Conversely it could say that even people who seem to fit the ideal have body issues and insecurities too… Which I agree with and support wholeheartedly, and have shared my personal thoughts on…
It’s a toss up. personally as a woman of color I like to be included, I mean not just represented by one or two, but I enough to create a spectrum of the diversity that is present within my race. There are Asian, and Latina women who have stories to share and those stories need to be heard so that women who look like them know that they are not alone. That having been said, it’s a start. Check out their page here
This is 17 year old Sabina Altynbekova, the Kazakhstanian volleyball player who has garnered thousands of fans but not for her powerful serve ,or spike…but for her pulchritudinousness. She is a looker and the idea that fans have noticed has created some issues for the team says Nurlan Sadikov, the coach of the nation’s under-19 team. “”It is impossible to work like this. The crowd behaves like there is only one player at the championship.” Apparently the fact that Taiwanese fans were holding Kazakhstan flags and arriving an hour early just to get a glimpse of Altynbekova at the 17 Asian women’s U19 volleyball championship in Taipei this past July left a bad taste in Sadikov’s mouth. Altnbekova’s twitter account follower has risen to a an astounding 22,000 followers
Is this REALLY a PROBLEM?
Championship in Taipei this month
Championship in Taipei this month
I am calling a flag on the play. Let’s just break it down for a moment. I get how in a team sport having a stand out, or “star” player can be a distraction the other team members however I challenge you to name a sport where someone’s skill or their physique hasn’t made them a media star. My mind goes to David Beckham, who not only wowed the crowd with his skills but also with his washboard abs and tatted up guns, and Disney Prince good looks… There was a movie based on his curved kick. I know his teammates at times had to have felt like chopped liver getting off of the team bus, but the visibility he brought to the sport was priceless, some would say that he single handedly boosted America’s interest in “football”, mainly because he is so fine, and his pop star wife didn’t hurt either. Cristiano Ronaldo is having the same effect on the sport, with his shiny hair, chiseled cheekbones and sculpted eyebrows, oh he has a mean dribble too. I don’t hear his coach saying that this is a “distraction”. Granted these are two men are also at the top of their sports, much like a Michael Jordan, or Emmit Smith. But in all the the reporting no one has ever listed Altynbekova’s stats. I have to believe that she is good enough to be on the team, and the team is good enough to make it to the championships so what is the problem? Is she not pulling her weight?
But this is about her beauty…not her game, well then what about the male athletes who have become sensations not so much for there skills but for other things? Take Tim Tebow, who was the hot ticket quarterback for a hot second, but his religion and his virginity were a bigger deal then his touchdown passes. How can we forget the Linsaity of Jeremy Lin, he can play ball, but he also came out of nowhere and he is the only Asian in the League now. Why are these male athletes fame considered “good” for the game? It has surely been said that they bring awareness, and new demographics to their sports.
Who the hell was thinking about women’s volleyball before this young woman’s videos and pictures started to go viral? Seriously I think there is a clear double standard here at play when it comes to how the coach is dealing with Altynbekova’s growing popularity. it’s not as if she has encouraged or even promoted it, that twitter account is not even hers, the only social media outlets she participates in are Instagram and VK a social network popular in Europe, Russia and her native Kazakhstan. She is not remotely interested in being the next media sensation she recently entered Kazakh University for Humanities and Law. her mother wanted her to pursue Law she chose sports, and her parents are against her taking advantage of any modeling opportunities. She is a young woman who has now been pushed (by the internet and media) into the spotlight and all she wanted to do was Serve…and not face.
a European
Championship in Taipei this month
Championship in Taipei this month
Championship in Taipei this month
Championship in Taipei this month
17th Asian Women’s U19 Volleyball Championship in Taipei this month. – See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/more-lifestyle-stories/story/legs-volleyball-babe-sabina-altynbekova-spikes-media-interest#sthash.NT3WLALk.dpuf
17th Asian Women’s U19 Volleyball Championship in Taipei this month. – See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/more-lifestyle-stories/story/legs-volleyball-babe-sabina-altynbekova-spikes-media-interest#sthash.NT3WLALk.dpuf
17th Asian Women’s U19 Volleyball Championship in Taipei this month – See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/more-lifestyle-stories/story/legs-volleyball-babe-sabina-altynbekova-spikes-media-interest#sthash.NT3WLALk.dpuf
17th Asian Women’s U19 Volleyball Championship in Taipei this month – See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/more-lifestyle-stories/story/legs-volleyball-babe-sabina-altynbekova-spikes-media-interest#sthash.NT3WLALk.dpuf
17th Asian Women’s U19 Volleyball Championship in Taipei this month – See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/more-lifestyle-stories/story/legs-volleyball-babe-sabina-altynbekova-spikes-media-interest#sthash.NT3WLALk.dpuf
Thank God there is a country that is willing to stand up for what is so clearly right. The fact that this company with it’s suspect advertizing campaigns has the word “American” in it is a disgrace to our country.
So this is the ad that American Apparel posted to advertise it’s Fall, or “School Days” line. It is clearly a female bent over showing not just her panties, but her crotch. They will tell you that since the model is 30, therefor it could not be, and is in now way suggestive of pedophilia at all . What I will tell you (but you probably already know) that it is suggestive of the young girl who doesn’t realize how short her skirt is, and innocently bends over to pick something up. It is suggestive of the “Barely Legal” 18 year old in the pron movie who dons, a Catholic school kilt, knee socks and pigtails, who with a finger in her mouth looks back and bends over showing her white “little” girl panties as she waggles her bottom at you. It is suggestive of the violation of an Up Skirt shot…What it is, is flat out inappropriate for all of these reasons and primarily because their demographic is preteen and teen aged girls. This is NOT how you sell a 14year old a pleated skirt. This is NOT the skirt you want your 14 year old to WANT to buy….
This imagery is an insult, and an assault on young girls and women, it is reductive, but not just to the female sex but to boys and men alike as it tells and teaches them that this portrayal, this concept of woman is okay, it is acceptable , it is just the thing that makes a young punk hack people’s phone’s and leak their private and intimate photos…
Frankly I am sick and disgusted at what is going on in the world, in this country of late, from 8 year old girls being taught how to fire Uzis and killing the instructor, to everything that is happening in Ferguson Missouri , and all over this country with the police’s abuse of power and the systematic targeting of Black men even the leaking of celebrities personal and private intimate photos…. These are sad and desperate times for this country and this world. And though you might want to stop reading now because you feel like I am about to go off onto one of my tangents, (I might) one that is someone how unrelated to the topic of insinuating the sexualization of young girls I be to differ. I think that the afore mentioned things have a lack of moral compass, there is a lack of humanity, there is a lack of empathy in these acts. There is something wrong, wrong, wrong, and though I do not know what to “do” about it I know that like in AA the first step is to admit that you have a problem.
That’s according to the Guardian.The ASA has been on a tear against AA, banning specific ads six times in the last two and a half years. The latest dust-up comes over two pics that ran on the AA site and Instagram account, which showed a woman in a plaid skirt bending over, underwear exposed. (Similar to this ad. The Daily Mail has the images, of course.) They might as well have pegged it to a “jailbait” discount code. ASA did not approve one bit:
The images, which the advertising watchdog said were linked to the brand’s “School Days” and “Back to School” ranges, were edited so “the focus was on her buttocks and groin rather than on the skirt being modelled”. ASA said the ads imitated voyeuristic “up-skirt” photographs taken without the subject’s consent.
“We considered the ads had the effect of inappropriately sexualising school-age girls and were therefore offensive and irresponsible,” said the ASA ruling (which you can read for yourself here).
American Apparel insisted the images weren’t technically part of a “Back to School” promotion and that the model was 30. Come on, guys, don’t insult our intelligence on top of everything else.
If we are lucky, age and aging comes to all of us. We relish our lives and want to live long healthy ones, yet in our youth crazed society we simultaneously crave longevity yet fear what age does to us both physically and mentally. Given what we have learned about the body through the advancement of science, medicine and nutrition, we now have the capacity to live longer then our predecessors ever dreamed of. We have not only extended our lifespan, but we are able to have a better quality of that longer life. There are nonagenarians who are vital, both mentally and physically and live very full and independent lives. This is one of the blessings of modern medicine and science. The flips side of that is, we also have the technology to erase the evidence of a great life lived. Botox, fillers, and plastic surgery can hold the aging body in a bizarre stasis, a place where people can look to be 30 years old perpetually. Their faces never quite change, their breasts don’t sag, hair lost can be replaced or re-grown, and it may not even grey, but through the magic of a colorist they get blonder and blonder. In today’s society it is getting harder and harder to say what a specific “age” looks like. “She doesn’t look* 45”, no she may not, but her mother does…
That is not to say that everyone who looks great has “support”, but this phenomenon of perpetual youth does greatly effect how we have come to feel about our aging selves. When we see pregnant women give birth and then dons in a bikini a week later looking as if she never carried a small mammal in her belly…it can be daunting. When her breast sag she has the option of a lift, or implants, and when her belly does not shrink she can tuck it. So what does a “mother’s body look like? Whether by genetic blessings or by professional intervention, people are living longer and looking better, and younger while doing it. To date it is almost societally shunned to “look” your age, or look like you have had a baby, or to be all right wearing the history of your collective life experience on your face.
This is why I think that Lucy Hilmer’s photo series “Birthday Suits” is so prolific in it’s simplicity. She not only documents her life and the development of it (we see her fall in love, have a child, we see that child grow) but she documents her body as it morphs due to those life experiences. Personally the changes in her breasts are what captivated me first and then it was her legs. Hilmer’s breasts are pert and perky at 33 when she took that unassuming picture of her self, almost as a fluke. At 36 they are a bit fuller but you can see that gravity has taken hold, at 43 she is breastfeeding her daughter. Her breast are functioning for their intended purpose…at 52 we see the result of that purpose fulfilled and age give greater weight to them, we also start to see a change in her legs. At a certain age the legs especially around the knees begin to show age, it often matters little how “fit” you are, they just start to change, it’s natural… At 56 as she stands with her daughter (no doubt the one she was nursing) she is a bit heavier in the waist, probably the result of menopause, but she looks very much unchanged and even at 60 and 67 she is still looks very much like her 33 year old self, it’s actually quite remarkable. There is a grace to her aging, a grace that most, if we allow it, and embraced it would no doubt have. I see a great beauty and honor in it. I see her go from girl to woman. I see strength, and confidence in her, never is there a sense of shame, or regret as she wears those white bloomers year after year, and certainly as she took those photos, the changes in her body were highlighted. It might have been quite humbling year after year to see where you breast started the year and where they ended it, albeit you would never get that from the energy of the photos.
For any woman who fears what age can do to your body, your beauty, your sensuality, or sexuality, they should take a look at these photos, hopefully they will be able to recognize that where age and life may change you, you are always most assuredly yourself. The human body, like its spirit is incredibly resilient and self-healing at times. The thing that I love most about these portraits is the fact that Ms. Hilmer looks so happy in all of them. At the start she wanted to document her 29th birthday as “the last good year she had left” but instead she documented that every year you have, is good, sometimes better then good, sometimes not but it is always a blessing either way.
Every Year Since 1974, This Artist Has Photographed Herself In Nothing But Her ‘Birthday Suit’
Photographer Lucy Hilmer has spent the last 40 years bringing new, poetic meaning to the phrase “Birthday Suit.” Since 1974, the San Francisco-based artist has snapped a self-portrait of herself wearing nothing but a pair of shoes, socks and her signature white “Lolly Pop” drawers.
In the series, she’s pictured topless, assuming positions as ambiguous as staring into the sprawling ocean or pointedly powerful as gazing into the camera with a child feeding from her breasts. In total, she’s created a visual history of her own life filled with equal parts vulnerability and pride, mystery and revelation.
“Birthday Suits” began as a singular self-portrait, with no intention of becoming a life-long series. “I had just started studying photography in San Francisco, and went to Zabriskie Point in Death Valley, CA on a lark, and as a kind of homage to [Michelangelo] Antonioni and his film about the counter culture,” Hilmer explained to HuffPost. “I set out to make a picture of myself in my ‘birthday suit’ because in those days the saying was you couldn’t trust anyone over 30. In 1974, when I turned 29, I figured I’d immortalize myself on the last good year I had left.”
Hilmer took several photographs that day, but the one that stood out was an image in her underpants. “I recognized that person more than the skin-deep girl posing in the other frames of film,” she recalled. “That girl in her underpants was vulnerable, open, awkward — she was me.”
So every birthday after that, she reenacted the pose. She was, in her own words, obsessed with time and the notion that we’re all “slip-sliding away, becoming different versions of ourselves before we know it.” In the process, she found herself shedding the identity of a “girl child” of the 1950s, winding her own way into the narrative of a blossoming feminist movement.
“I came of age before women’s lib, and wanted to buck the stereotypes of a culture that branded me a pretty girl, thin enough
to be a fashion model and not much more,” she proclaimed. “Armed with my camera and tripod, I found a way to define myself on my own terms in the most authentic way I could.”
